This entry was posted on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 at 8:03 am and is filed under Skin Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
Having perpetually dry itchy skin might not sound like a serious condition – until you suffer it for yourself. That is when you understand how frustrating it can be to have your sleep constantly interrupted by the desire to wake up and scratch. That is also when you realize the embarrassment of having to scratch yourself while in an important meeting with a client at the office – seeing that scratching in public is generally frowned upon, and sometimes even interpreted as a sign of inadequate personal hygiene.
Almost everyone in temperate climates experience some amount of dryness and itchiness on their skin during the cold winter months. This is because modest humidity – which is the normal condition during the cold winter days – is one of the primary a causes of dry itchy skin. This type of skin dryness and itchiness is essentially considered quite normal, is normally mild, and dissapates as the air moisture conditions improve with the end of winter. If the skin dryness and itchiness caused by winter conditions is really disturbing, then putting a humidifier in the home can be a great remedy.
Another common cause of dry itchy skin is continued use of very hot water for bathing and other poor skin care routines, which in turn block the skin’s natural moisturizing systems, causing skin dryness and ultimately itchiness. The cure for these is simply opting for better skin care practices – like taking cooler baths, and then giving the body time to mend the damage that was done by the previous inadequate skin care practices. You can speed up this healing process with the use of the many natural skin remedies.
Yet another cause of dry itchy skin, which is classified as more serious and that warrants some sort of medical treatment, is that caused by an underlying medical condition. Some of the medical conditions that are manifested by dry itchy skin include eczema, psoriasis, and scabies. If for example the dryness and itchiness in the skin is accompanied by other symptoms like swelling, oozing or bleeding, it could be an indication that one is suffering from eczema. There are both natural and synthetic treatments for these conditions, if they happen to be the reasons for the skin becoming itch and dry.
Then again dry itchy skin may also be caused by an even more difficult underlying condition like diabetes, liver problems or hormonal problems – and these justify specialized medical treatment as a matter of urgency. And if the symptoms are chronic, and don’t go away even after consistently moisturizing, it could be that it is actually a result of such underlying diseases. In this case once the underlying condition is resolved, then the skin dryness and itchiness should also go away.
Erica Polaris is a prolific researcher and writer of skin care health and natural health products. She shares her research on dry itchy skin at her website which includes great tips and recommendations.
- Erica Polaris
